Kentucky's occupational fatality rate is 6.9 deaths/100,000 workers (Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation [FACE] program data, 2003), 72.5 percent above the national rate of 4/100,000 workers. Kentucky's nonfatal worker injury and illness rate is also greater than the national rate (7.1 injuries and illnesses/100 full-time workers compared to 5.3/100 nationally (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003). The establishment of a fundamental occupational safety and health (OSH) surveillance program in a southeastern state, Kentucky, will target and unite resources from existing public health surveillance systems and identify and utilize new and existing sources of OSH data. The objectives are to identify worker populations, work environments, and other factors which contribute to occupational injury, and develop state OSH data dissemination strategies to reduce Kentucky occupational injuries. The methodology consists of establishing and conducting comprehensive population-based surveillance of the 13 occupational injury and illness indicators recommended by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and fatal and nonfatal occupational motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) as another indicator using existing independent data systems: hospital discharge, FACE, Workers Claims (WC), Poison Control Center (PCC), Vital Statistics, Kentucky Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology Surveillance, Collision Report Analysis for Safer Highways, emergency department (ED), and trauma registry data in addition to online resource data. Extensive analysis of 1) linked hospital discharge and WC datasets to examine occupational falls and: 2) linked CRASH, hospital discharge, ED, and trauma datasets to examine nonfatal occupational motor vehicle collisions will be performed. Narrative data analysis of PCC data will be completed on occupational poisoning incidents. The feasibility of ED data and trauma systems data as independent and linked occupational heath data sources will be explored. We will initiate and expand partnerships with state and local stakeholders to establish a Kentucky state-specific consortium called "Kentucky-Working to SAFE Lives". We will analyze and disseminate surveillance data through the state consortium and other community stakeholders and a process and outcome evaluation of the major activities conducted will be performed. [unreadable] [unreadable]